Buffalo Bills' General Manager Buddy Nix speaks to the media about the hiring of Doug Marrone as head coach at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York January 7, 2013. (REUTERS/Doug Benz)

Snow flurries in June might be the only thing less surprising in Buffalo this spring than Monday's announcement by the Bills that GM Buddy Nix has stepped aside.

Nix and new team president Russ Brandon both had tried quite unsuccessfully since New Year's Day to convince everyone otherwise, but the writing clearly was on the wall.

Nix brought enough football savvy and experience to the front-office tables at One Bills Drive to succeed, after owner Ralph Wilson and then-CEO Brandon elevated him to GM three years and five months ago.

And Nix did upgrade the roster -- to whatever debatable degree -- from the tire fire he inherited on New Year's Eve 2009. But, like his immediate predecessors dating back to the club's high-water mark in the early 1990s, Nix ultimately failed in three-and-a-bit seasons at the helm.